BEIRUT, Lebanon

Lebanon will start returning Syrian refugees to Syria next week, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said Wednesday.

“As of next week, we will see the start of returning Syrians to their home country in batches,” Aoun said, without providing further details.

Recently, the Lebanese government set a plan to return 15,000 Syrian refugees to Syria every month. The plan, however, was rejected by the United Nations saying that security in Syria has not yet been restored.

Lebanon hosts around 1.5 million Syrian refugees, about 900,000 of whom are registered at UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Most of the refugees suffer from tough living conditions, especially with the exacerbation of the Lebanese economic crisis on one hand and the global economic crisis on the other.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar